Alice and What Came After: Between the Glass
Disclaimer: If it seems familiar, it's probably not mine. The creatures, anomalies, and Helen, etc. belong to ITV/Impossible Pictures. Hatter, Alice, and Wonderland goodness belong to Lewis Carroll, Nick Willing, and SyFy.
Chapter Eighteen: Allies and Enemies
Damon Heart stood up as his least favorite person in all of Wonderland was dragged to his feet. His least favorite living person that was. The other person was buried in a shallow grave.
"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in," he mocked.
Kyle didn't move from where he had been tossed. He cradled his broken right hand to his chest, but didn't even look up from the deep red carpet.
"I'm talking to you, Kyle. You ungrateful—"
"Oh, stuff it," he grumbled. "I didn't come all this way for you to insult me. I just want my sister back."
"That's it? Your sister?"
His young-looking stepbrother nodded. "I just want to know what you did to Jessica. I don't care about anything else. Go ahead—burn Wonderland to the ground. See if I care."
"Jessica is gone. Long, long gone." Just like you will be. No one will ever notice that you're gone, Kyle. No one cares about you anymore…
"Did you kill her?"
Damon laughed. "What makes you think that I would confirm or deny your ridiculous theory?"
"I know you're a killer. I know what you're capable of. I've seen it. I've lived it. All I want to know is why Jessica hasn't managed to stop you."
"Your sweet, innocent sister can't protect you, Kyle. She's not here to take your punishments for you this time."
"Where is she?"
Damon stepped closer, examining his stepbrother. The years had been kind to Kyle Hatter. Even living in the forest hadn't aged him. He didn't look a day older than he had fifteen years ago. "You don't really care about Jessica. That's not why you came back after fifteen years of living like the coward you are. No, no… you've got a plan, don't you?"
The King tore the injured right hand away from Kyle's chest. He stomped on it, crushing the broken bones further. Kyle screamed, agony filling his face.
"What is your plan, hmm? Overthrow me with your little rag-tag bunch? No, you're smart enough to know that you would fail. You wanted to be caught, didn't you?"
Damon stood back up, circling around his stepbrother. "Now, why would you want to be caught? What could possibly be in my castle that you would want to get your grubby little paws on?"
He spun around, staring at the dark-haired outcast. The black sheep of the Heart family, had he even been a Heart. He was the weakest member of the family. Everyone in Wonderland knew it. That was why Kyle always hid behind his sister—Jessica kept him from being beaten to a bloody pulp on more than one occasion.
"The sword. You want the Vorpal Sword," Damon guessed.
Kyle looked up. He had a grim smile plastered to his sun-streaked face. "Maybe, maybe not."
"Fine. I know what to do with you. Summon the doctors. I need a little bit of information—some Truth if you will—from this half-blood. Disgusting piece of Oyster garbage," Damon hissed, spitting on Kyle's face.
The other man didn't even blink. He didn't seem fazed at all by the insults.
For some reason, it unsettled Damon.
With warm blood dripping down her skin, Jessica tied off her makeshift rope ladder. It wouldn't be long before the alarm was raised. She needed to get to the ground before an intrepid Suit cut the rope. It would be a long, deadly fall if the rope gave way too soon.
After yanking on a change of clothes—there was no way she was climbing barefoot and in a silk nightgown—and sturdy shoes, Jessica slipped the bloody sword into her belt. The sharp blade rubbed against the leather and banged into her slide. She ignored the pain as she gripped the rope.
Hand over hand, she slipped down the rope, her legs crossed at her ankles to help support her weight.
"She's down there! Get her!" an angry male voice shouted from above. A Suit.
Jessica didn't stop moving. She locked her arms around the rope, letting the sheets slip through her grasp as she tumbled down.
"Cut it!"
But the Suits were too slow. She'd already hit the grass below before the sheet crumpled down behind her.
"Shoot her! Kill her!"
The Truth Room never changed much, even though it was now housed in a new building. Dr. Dee and Dr. Dum both survived the collapse of the Hearts Casino prior to Damon's birth. They continued to support their Queen, the one true Queen in their minds, even after her arrest.
In the shadows, they served her, until her grandson rose to power.
Then they took their place beside the throne. They became the royal executioners and torturers.
To thank them for their loyalty, King Damon promised to give them a Hatter. It had been his stepmother, Alice Hamilton Heart, who let their prize escape all those decades ago. The Mad Hatter was long dead, but his descendants would pay the price.
King Damon delivered on his promise. The last living Hatter, a son, was in their playroom. A son that looked just like their escaped quarry.
His dangerous right hand had already been destroyed, leaving him helpless. The doctors smiled at that. Hatter's son could scream and fight until his little heart gave out. He wouldn't escape. No, not this time.
With the sharp electric charge of a cattle prod, Hatter's son was awake and screaming.
On the second floor of the palace, Chase Heart headed for his father's old library. With Damon up to his usual tricks, he preferred to stay out of the way. That meant many hours spent alone in the library surrounded by dusty volumes rescued from the Great Library.
He poured a cup of a tea from a waiting kettle and then found a good chair. He picked up his book, settling in for a long day. Damon would be busy in the throne room until close to dinner. He would enjoy the silence before his older brother pitched a hissy fit about one thing or another.
Chase only made it a page or two until a hand covered his mouth.
"Don't scream. It's just me… Kyle. I'm not here to hurt you. I need your help."
"Mmph!"
"If you promise not to scream, I'll let go, okay?"
"Mmm!"
The hand dropped. Chase took a deep breath.
"I need you to help me overthrow Damon."
"What? Are you crazy?"
"No. We need to do this. He murdered my sister. He needs to be stopped. Jess would want us to stop him. She died trying to stop him," Kyle said, trying to keep his voice low.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. She's dead. He buried her out in the woods. An unmarked grave."
"Why not just say she died?" Chase asked, horrified that his brother could kill their half-sister and dump her body so coldly.
Kyle came around the chair. He sat beside Chase. "Then she'd be a martyr for our cause. Her death would be used against him. It was better to make us both disappear."
"Damon wants to kill you?"
"Yes. Now that I'm outta the woods, I'm next on his list. I'm not going down without a fight. I need your help to stop Damon."
"I don't know…"
Kyle groaned. "Chase, you're my last hope. I need someone on the inside to bring him down. Please. He murdered my sister. Please…"
Chase looked down at his book then up at his half-brother. "I… oh, fine. I'll help you."
Jessica jumped to her feet as a spray of bullets bit into the ground. With an arm over her head, she ran around the corner of the palace.
The woods. If she could get to the woods, she could climb a tree and escape her pursuers. It was easy to vanish in the wilds of Wonderland. All she needed to do was reach the woods where she'd once been left for dead.
Her blonde hair flew out behind her like a banner as she bolted toward the royal stables. A few horses were tied to a hitching post in front of the stables.
She eyed a bay still wearing a bridle but no saddle.
In a split second decision, Jessica vaulted herself onto the bay's back. She tugged the reins loose from the post, her legs urging the horse forward.
With a snort, the bay broke into a trot.
"C'mon, c'mon…" she grumbled, pushing the reluctant horse into a fast-moving canter. Her body rocked in time with the horse's fluid step. It had been a long time since she'd sat astride a horse, but her muscles remembered what to do.
They crashed into the woods, the horse panicking a bit at the Vorpal Sword banging into its side.
"Halt!" a voice shouted, a rather foul-looking Wonderlander aiming an assault weapon at horse and rider.
The bay spooked, unceremoniously dumping Jessica in the mud, the sword still belted to her side. The horse disappeared into the underbrush, leaving her alone to deal with the new threat.
"Who are you?" the man growled.
Jessica brushed her jeans off, one hand on the pommel of the heavy sword. "You first."
"You came from the castle, didn't you? Now, why would a pretty young thing like you be fleeing the castle in the wee hours of the morning?"
"That's none of your business."
The man smiled crooked at her. His wire-rimmed glasses were grimy and cracked. He'd been living in the woods for some time, probably like her brother had. "Let's see… young, physically attractive, good size chest… and blonde. Hmm, why you must have been a guest of our esteemed King of Hearts, Damon…"
Jessica bristled at the name. "Actually, no. And I certainly wasn't there for that. Who do you work for?"
"Myself, of course."
She snorted. "You work for the King, don't you?"
"That depends on which King you mean…"
"What are you… oh, no."
The old man grinned. "I support King Jack still. I knew him well as a boy. I also knew both his wives. It's a pity Alice died so suddenly… so young…"
Mum…
"Who are you?"
"I know very well who I am, but who… are… you…?"
"Alice," she lied, her dead mother's name rolling off her tongue with ease. "Alice Liddell."
"Pleasure to see you once again, Alice Liddell. My, you've grown."
"It's been a good many years."
"One would think so, especially since it has been almost two hundred years since your last visit." The grin grew. "You're not Alice, my dear. Who are you?"
Jessica frowned. She mentally ran through the short list of people who actually knew the real Alice, the little lost girl from England, all those years ago. Most of them had passed in recent years. That left one old wise codger that she knew of—one man sly enough to escape the chopping block time and again.
"You're the man they call Caterpillar, aren't you?"
"That I am, my dear. But we still haven't answered the question of your identity."
"I guessed your name. You can guess mine."
Caterpillar laughed, a hoarse, coarse sound from centuries of smoking hookah. "Let's see… you do bear a resemblance to Miss Liddell, rest her soul, though it's covered up by another Alice I knew well. You're Alice Hamilton's daughter, aren't you?"
She nodded. "Yes. Did you know her well?"
"Not well enough. I only met her the once. After that, it became too dangerous. I knew her… ahmph, lover by reputation. An admirable man, your father, the Hatter."
"Is he dead? My father?"
Caterpillar looked directly in her brown eyes. "No, no, my dear. The Hatter is very much alive."
Author's Notes:
We finally meet Alt-Chase! Yay! And no, he doesn't know that Kyle is his stepbrother. He still thinks they're half-sibs. Damon didn't tell him.
Connor's in a world of trouble. "Kyle" in Damon's section is really Connor. Confusing, iddn't?
Hope you enjoy the little scene with Caterpillar! He's gone a bit, well, native.
Thanks for reading and please, please, review!
